On the Way Down
by isntshelovely
Summary: Something happens to Cristina. How will the hospital react? MerDer, Addisex, Burktina. Big CristinaMeredith friendship that affects all the relationships. Rated T just to be safe. The season finale didn't happen yet?.
1. Chapter 1: Bad Day

Chapter 1: Bad Day

Cristina sat on the table, shivering in the thin paper robe that had been given to her by the nurse. She felt like she'd been poked and prodded all day, and she felt woozy from the blood draw. She'd been waiting in the small clinic for almost a half-hour, and she really wanted to go back to work. If this went on much longer, she wouldn't be able to scrub in this afternoon. She picked up her chart (not nearly as organized as the ones at Seattle Grace) and started flipping through it. Nothing new. She looked at her watch. It had been 40 minutes, and she hadn't even seen her doctor yet. Just as she was about to leave, she heard a knock on the door. The doctor stepped in.

"Nice to meet you, Cristina. My name is Dr. Smith." He glanced up. "So my patient is a doctor. You must have been kept waiting awhile, looking at your own chart."

Cristina looked at him, brow furrowed. "Hi," she said.

"I always hate delivering results to doctors. What kind of doctor are you?"

"A surgeon. Well, a resident. My first year just ended. My specialty is cardiothoracic. I work at Seattle Grace."

"Very nice. Surgeons are the worst to deliver labs to. You tell them one thing, and they automatically think it's the worst possible scenario," said Dr. Smith with a fairly grim face.

Cristina picked up on his expression. "Spit it out, doc. I know my labs weren't perfect, I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think anything was wrong."

"You seem fairly healthy. I know you came because you just haven't been feeling well. Your blood tests show that your white counts are slightly elevated, which could mean many things. The first concern, of course, is leukemia, but I don't think that is likely. You don't have any bruising or swollen glands. Just to be safe, I would like you to see an oncologist because if we catch it early, there is a high chance of survival."

"Cancer, you mean I might have cancer?"

"I'm not positive, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. You can get dressed and leave now. The oncologist will fax you a report."

Cristina pulled on her clothes and left for Seattle Grace. In her head, she heard "I would like you to see an oncologist." replaying the whole way there.


	2. Chapter 2: A Heart Full of Love

Author's Note: Sorry about the short chapter 1. But I had to end it where I did, and there wasn't much more I could do. Thanks to Tori (salmonscrubs) for the help.

Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy. Shonda does. If you want to complain, call her.

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"_Waiting  
Suffocating  
No direction  
And I took a dive"_

_**-Ryan Cabrera**_

Cristina arrived at the hospital. It was still fairly early, only 11 or so, but she knew she had missed a lot—rounds and assignments. At least she still had Burke's surgery. She quickly changed into her scrubs and went to go find Bailey. She was determined to put the events of the morning behind her.

After finding Bailey and being told that her friends were eating lunch, Cristina decided to join them. She went down to the cafeteria, not very hungry, and sat down with her friends.

Meredith was the first to speak. "Hey Cristina. Where were you this morning?"

"Doctor's appointment."

A chorus of "Are you okay? Is anything wrong?" echoed through the table.

"Nope. Nothing's wrong. It was just a regular physical, not like an Ob/Gyn appointment or anything. And no, Evil Spawn, I am NOT pregnant." As badly as Cristina wanted to tell her friends, she couldn't. Not yet. Not until she knew that something was definitely wrong and the Chief and Bailey did too.

"Then why aren't you eating?" asked Izzie, her plate piled high.

"Not hungry. I ate after my blood test, you know, to get my energy back up."

"Oh, okay." Meredith's pager went off. "Bailey. I gotta take this. See you at Joe's tonight?"

"I'm in," said everyone except for Alex.

"Why not, Evil Spawn?"

"On call."

"Oh, that sucks. Bye guys!" said Meredith while running.

GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA

Cristina sat on the bed of her apartment, waiting for Burke to come home. She wanted to tell him so badly, but she didn't know how. The surgery this afternoon had gone well, and Burke was just finishing post-op. The two had planned a nice dinner out, and Cristina was excited. Just as she was getting up, the phone rang. It was Burke.

"Hey Cristina. I'm running a little late, but I'm on my way to the locker room now. How about I meet you at the restaurant?"

"Okay. I'm going to get ready now. See you at 7."

"Bye. And Cristina?"

"What?"

"I love you,"

**Hope you guys like it. Review, Review, Review! Reviews prompt me to write more. And don't be afraid to criticize if you have a complaint. **

**-Jaime**


	3. Chapter 3: Borderline

Chapter 3: Borderline

Disclaimer: I don't own Meredith Grey or her Anatomy. Sorry.

"_I've been wondering why  
It's only me"_

**-**_**Ryan Cabrera**_

The pants and top were on. The heels were fastened. The makeup couldn't have been any more perfect. And yet Cristina felt as though something inside her wasn't right. She'd even clipped her pager to her belt in case of an emergency. She decided to ignore the feeling, and just have a nice time tonight with Burke. She stepped into her car, and turned the radio up.

Cristina immediately felt self-conscious when she saw the restaurant. It wasn't fancy, and she wasn't underdressed, but there were a lot of families and happy couples there. Not that her and Burke weren't happy, but she wasn't really the public affection type. But public affection was exactly what people would expect when they saw her and Burke. Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Cristina, Hi" Burke kissed his girlfriend quickly on the cheek.

"Burke. Hi!" Cristina greeted her boyfriend enthusiastically. The hostess came up to her and asked for her name. She replied, and was taken to the table.

The two sat down, opening their menus. "What would you like?," Burke asked.

"What do you think I want? This restaurant is famous for their pasta, so I would like the Fettuccine Alfredo."

"I would as well." The waitress, who had arrived, took their orders.

"How was your day?" asked Cristina.

"Excellent, thank you for asking. My early surgery went well and you know how my other one went. I also discharged two patients, one who had had a heart attack and the other with a tumor. How was your day? I know you had a doctor's appointment."

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Um, the doctor gave me some not-so-great news."

"Cristina, what happened today?"

"I didn't go to the doctor for no reason. You know better than almost anyone that I haven't been feeling well lately. My white counts. They were-um," she paused for a moment. "Elevated. Burke, my white counts were elevated."

"Leukemia? You have leukemia?" Burke, looked scared.

"They aren't sure yet. They think it's unlikely since I don't have any other symptoms, but he is sending me to an oncologist. I want you to be there with me."

"Cristina, you know me. I wouldn't miss this appointment for the world. You need me. I would go with you and hold your hand anywhere if you asked me to."

"Thank you Burke. There is one thing about this though."

"What is it?"

"You can't tell anyone, especially Meredith, the Chief, and Bailey. I don't want anyone to know until I'm sure, and I don't want gossip without need."

"I won't tell. Me and you, we're a team. Remember?"

"Of course I remember. And Burke?"

"Yes Cristina."

"Thanks."

"It's nothing."

The waitress walked over to their table with their drinks. Cristina excused herself to go to the bathroom, and accidentally hit her leg on the side of the table. When she got to the bathroom, she locked herself in a stall and opened her purse, pulling out a fresh tampon. When she took the used one out, she noticed that there was a bit more blood than usual on it. "That's weird," she thought to herself. "I was light this morning. Oh well, maybe I'm just irregular from all this stress." She continued with changing the tampon, and then flushed the toilet. As she was pulling up her pants, she saw it. A small bruise had formed where her leg had hit the table.

Author's Note: Sorry about the lack of MerDer and the MerCristina friendship. It'll come soon, I promise. Thanks for all the reviews, they inspire me to update.

Friendsfan: I added some more dialogue and description.

Review, Review, Review. And for the next chapter: If you can (correctly) name the artists of the chapter title songs and title song, I'll reward you with a little something. Just tell me what you want in your review. Keep on reading!

-Jaime


	4. Chapter 4: Here is Gone

**Author's Note: So this chapter is basically filler. Maybe some MerDer if you're lucky. Also, sorry if Burke is a little OOC. I'm still working on him. **

**And to clear something up: for the "contest," I will give you something in the story (a MerDer or Addisex scene perhaps, cough Tori cough)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own McDreamy. If I did, I'd be in bed with him!**

"_The weight of the world  
Feels like nothing, no, nothing"_

_**-Ryan Cabrera**_

Chapter 4: Here is Gone

Cristina walked back to her table in the restaurant, silently freaking out the entire way there. When she finally got back to the table, their food had arrived. "Burke," she said. "We need to go home. I have to talk to you."

"Oh my God. Cristina, what happened?"

"I-" she was clearly having some trouble forming her words. "I need to get out. Take me home."

Burke quickly flagged over the waitress, and paid her. He started to walk out, holding Cristina's hand the whole way there. Brushing past the hostess, he apologized for leaving early. Cristina fell silent, and didn't talk for the entire ride home. She felt like she was going to throw up.

After a car ride that seemed to last forever, Burke got out of the car. He fumbled for the lock to their apartment, and let Cristina in.

"Cristina, what's wrong? Will you talk to me?"

"Burke. I'm so scared. I'm so scared. We need to call the oncologist tomorrow. I'm almost positive I have leukemia."

"Cristina. I don't care what you think. Legally and medically, I need to know what's happened. Not to mention that I'm your boyfriend and I care about you immensely."

"I will tell you. The details though, I'm not sure you'd want to hear."

"I don't care what the details are. I'm a heart surgeon. I see blood every day."

"Here goes nothing. I started my period a few days ago. Before I saw the doctor. It was going normally. Nothing was off. At the restaurant, I went to go change my tampon. On the way to the bathroom, I hit my leg on the edge of the table. Not hard, it didn't even hurt. I barely felt the contact. Anyway, I got to the bathroom and took out my tampon. I was light this morning, I thought I was ending. But the tampon was full. And as I went to pull up my pants, I saw a bruise on my leg. From the table. And then I knew. Still, don't tell anyone though."

"Cristina, I'm so sorry."

Meredith sat next to Derek in bed. Izzie was on call, and George was at the hotel with Callie.

"Derek, I'm worried about Cristina. I think something's wrong. She was off today."

"Nothing is wrong with Cristina, Mer. She might have had an off day. Sometimes that happens to people when they go to the doctor and spend half the day naked under a paper gown. You should know that, being a surgeon."

"Derek Shepherd, you have a way of seducing me at the most inappropriate times." She pressed his mouth to his.

"I love you Meredith Grey." He slipped his hands underneath her shirt.

Meredith relaxed and enjoyed herself all night. Completely unbeknownst to her, her best friend's world was crashing down a few miles away.


	5. Chapter 5: Ordinary Day

**S yAuthor's Note: Sorry about the long wait between updates. I've been really busy-lots of homework and finals. They should be coming faster starting next week or so. Sorry about the chapter too, kind of filler to get us through to the next chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Season 3 is (sadly) over. And not mine. Talk to Shonda. **

"_Trippin' over myself  
Goin' nowhere."_

_-__**Ryan Cabrera**_

Chapter 5: Ordinary Day

Cristina woke up the next morning to her alarm beeping, feeling sticky and dirty. Burke wasn't in bed next to her either. She got up and stepped into the shower, washing the tears off of her face along with the smudged makeup from the night before. She was careful not to bump into anything, not wanting a repeat of the evening before. After she got out of the shower, Cristina stepped into jeans and a top with her leather jacket. She walked into the kitchen, knowing what she would find. On the coffee maker, there was a note from Burke. It read, "C- Early surgery today. We'll call the oncologist when we get home tonight. See you at rounds…? –B" Cristina got in the car and headed to work, determined to put the previous night behind her.

"Hey Cristina," Meredith said in the locker room. "What's up? You look down. Something happen with you and Burke?"

"No. Nothing happened with Burke and I, we're still madly in love. I'm just-um-tired. Yeah, I'm tired."

"Something's up," said Alex, inviting himself into the conversation.

"Shut it Evil Spawn," said Cristina. "Nothing's wrong with me, and if it were, I wouldn't tell you."

Bailey came storming into the locker room, shouting, "Rounds, people! Rounds started 5 minutes ago. And if you don't get your ass out that door by the time I count to 10, I will make the rest of your day hell."

Everyone finished throwing on their scrubs and clipped their pagers on while walking out the door. Cristina was first out the door, anxious to get a good case. A good case with surgery. Lots of surgery. Surgery could take her mind off of the black cloud hanging above her head. But before Meredith, who was practically running to catch up with her best friend, could say anything, Bailey started talking again. "Grey-Dr. Montgomery. Stevens-Dr. Shepherd. Yang-Dr. Burke. He asked for you. Karev-pit. O'Malley, you're with me today. Go! I wasn't kidding. Get your intern asses out of my face!"

Cristina walked down to the room where she had seen Burke earlier, doing pre-op.

After a long surgery, Cristina flopped down on the bed in an on-call room. She started sobbing. She heard a soft knock on the door, and said "Go away!"

The voice on the other side of the door replied "It's me, Dr. Bailey. May I please come in?"

Cristina replied, "Fine." She then started to try to clean up her face.

Bailey walked in. "Cristina, what's wrong? You haven't been yourself all day. Did something happen with you and Dr. Burke?"

"No—no nothing like that. Burke and I are fine. It's just that, well, I'm seeing an oncologist tomorrow. My white counts were up."

"I'm so sorry Cristina. Does anyone know?"

"Burke knows. But I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else. I don't want anyone to know until I'm positive and I've cleared it with Chief."

"I won't tell anyone, don't worry. Take the rest of the day. I know you won't leave, but at least go—go sit in the gallery or something. Addison is doing a cool surgery later."

"Thanks, Dr. Bailey." Cristina left the room, anxious to see Addison's surgery. She was dreading tomorrow, but was just trying to live in the now.


End file.
